There are three kinds of lice: head lice, body lice and pubic lice. Lice infestationis also referred to as pediculosis. In particular, body lice are lice that live on the human body. They are usually found in clothing and feed on blood in the mid-section part of the body. Unlike head lice, they can spread disease.

How Do Body Lice Look Like?

Body lice are flat, wingless insects that feed on blood. In contrast to the myth, all kinds of lice cannot fly. They are about 2mm – 5mm in size which are greyish to brown in color. They prefer to live in your clothing rather than staying on your body. They are mostly found at the seams; armpits and waistline areas.

Body lice undergo three stages: lice eggs (nits), nymph and adult lice. Lice eggs are laid by adult female louse in seams or hair shafts. They are protected by the gluey substance called chitin. They are yellowish in color. Lice eggs would hatch 5 – 14 days depending on the heat of the host’s body. Empty lice eggs are called nits turns to white as they fall. Nymphs are new born lice. They actually look like adult lice but are smaller. They feed on blood for a week and become adult lice. Adult lice are about the size of a sesame seed. They can live for up to 45 days feeding on blood and 10 days outside their living environment.

How do They Spread?

Body lice can be transmitted through clothing such as shirts and pants. They can also infest others through physical contact. Body lice can be spread mostly in unhygienic areas such as rehabilitation centers during war, floods, and the likes.

What are the Symptoms of Body Lice?

When you are infested with body lice, symptoms would usually appear. Common symptoms are the following:

1. Itching. Body lice feeding on blood will irritate your skin which can cause itching. They secrete saliva which reacts on your skin resulting to itchiness.
2. Rashes. Rashes would generally appear if you are infested with body lice. It is often resulted to frequent scratching. However, rashes would even appear without scratching which is due to frequent sucking of blood on the same area.
3. Sores. Sores are small cuts on the skin which is caused by frequent scratching. It appears to be reddish. It becomes itchy over time and can lead to infections.
4. Red dots. Lice bites would feel like small bumps in your skin that is red in color and the area becomes inflamed.
5. Appearance of lice. The main manifestation that you are already infested with body lice is when you can see lice and nits your skin.

Sores, rashes and red dots would usually appear in your waist, groins, upper thighs and armpits.

Why Do Body Lice Should Be Treated Immediately?

Unlike head lice, body lice can spread diseases. It can cause vagabonds disease. It is body lice infestation over time. The skin would appear dark and feel thick due to frequent biting of body lice. Body lice are also known to be associated to epidemic diseases such as typhus, trench fever, and louse-born relapsing fever which usually occur during unhygienic areas.

If you can observe the following symptoms, you should treat body lice immediately to prevent infections and epidemic disease. Be vigilant againts body lice and prevent them from spreading.

No matter how many times you try to describe a certain object it is still clearer when you see pictures of it. It is true with the different kinds of lice that may infest our body. Even if you describe it countless of times, you can understand it better when you are presented with pictures of lice. You would be more aware of what they look like and know better on how get rid of them. There are different pictures of lice that you can view and help prepare you to battle these lice infestations.

Lice Pictures

Head lice can be a common afflictions for young children, it can a parents’ nightmare if they learn that their children may have lice infestation. With these head lice pictures you can help identify if your child has live lice. Aside from identifying head lice you can also see pictures of the nit or the louse egg. Since nits can be mistaken for dandruff, if you look at a picture of these nits you can see the difference between nits and dandruff.

In this picture of head lice and nit you can see that the head louse has six legs, it is mostly found in the scalp. It is grayish to black in color. The head louse is almost the same size of a sesame seed. On the other hand the nit is being shown clinging tightly to the hair shaft. It is whitish to yellowish in color. The mostly stay near the upper portion of the hair strand where it is dark. It cannot survive on warm temperature.

Pictures of Head Lice Effects

Aside from identifying the physical appearance of lice, it would also be to your advantage to see how head lice can affect your head. There are several pictures of head lice and its effect on a person’s head or scalp. It shows some of the things that may happen if the infestation is not quickly remedied. The pictures of head lice effect can range from simple rashes due to scratching to sores that may lead to infection. Looking at these pictures of lice effects warn us of what might happen if the lice infestation goes untreated.

Pictures of Body Lice

In terms of physical appearance, body lice and head\ lice have little differences. The main difference is that body lice mostly stay near the seams or edges of the clothing like shirts. The body lice transfer to the body when it needs to feed. In this picture of body lice you can see the nits or lice eggs that are scattered on the seams of the shirt. Instead of laying their eggs on the body, they usually lay it on cloth fibers as seen on this picture of nits of body lice. Body lice thrive on unsanitary environment. They usually afflict those who people who are unhygienic or do not take a bath.

Pictures of Body Lice Bites

Here are some examples of what might happen to someone that is infested with body lice. As you can see in the picture of body lice bites there are red marks scattered around the stomach area of the victim. Some are already swelling due to multiple bites and lack of medical attention. Some of the body lice bites form lesions as well.

Pictures of Lice Treatment

Aside from seeing and understanding more clearly the physical appearance of lice you also need to look at the pictures of head lice treatment that are available over the counter. Some of them are in shampoo form or cream. It is important that you can identify them so that you will not mistakenly purchase some other treatments.

There are also pictures of head lice home remedies. Some people would not want to use treatments made of chemical so they would rather use home remedies that are safer and gentler to the hair and scalp. It can give you helpful hints if you look at the pictures of these lice home remedies so that you will be able to choose the right kind of ingredient to use.

Looking at the different pictures of lice can help you identify the different kinds of lice like the head lice, body lice and pubic lice. You will be able to differentiate them. You will also be aware of some of the effects these lice can do to the specific parts of the body where they stay. The pictures of lice can also help you be aware of what to do in case you will directly be affected by it. They can give you the head start on what to do and what not to do. You can also tell immediately what kind of lice you are affected with. The pictures of lice can also help you spread the information to people you know that may have a hard time dealing with lice.